It's hardly "everyone". I think it's just Burnham and her connection is limited to family. Personal connection has been a part of story building, probably since storytelling began. Look at Star Trek, how many plots seem to hinge on a character being the old boy/girlfriend, mentor, drinking buddy, rival, what have you of a main character? Making it personal ups the drama. Would WNMHGB work as well if Gary was a random crewmember? Would Journey To Babel work as well if Sarek was just another Vulcan?
I don't think DISCO is over doing the "nostalgia characters". How many have there been? Sarek, Spock, Amanda, Mudd, Pike and Number One. Any more? Other than Mudd they are connected to Michael via Spock. So really it's two: Mudd and Spock related people. Over at Picard you have Data, Riker, Troi, Hugh, Icheb and Seven. Riker and Troi are the only ones that are iffy, IMO. But they were in a great episode, so they get a pass.![]()
Its fine to have Gary be Kirks friend or introduce Spocks father as long as its not over done like Trek often do especially season 7 of TNG. For me having Mudd was fine as it was just a fun throwaway episode and also when exploring someone like Pike (or April if they wanted) who we see little of in TOS but the Sarek family thing took from the story for me and made it less enjoyable and I would have no problem watching a show about a random human named Burnham with no special historic backstory
As I said its not just Discovery but nostalgia has been a big thing in TV and film for a bit now and its not for me. I feel like if TNG was made for the first time today Picard would have to be Kirks son and Data built by Scotty or something.